(AFP) – LONDON (AFP) – The head of English cricket has travelled to Pakistan in an attempt to mend relations strained by the cancellation of a Twenty20 visit in October.
On Monday, an AFP reporter in London learned that England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison had been to Pakistan for meetings with Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja.
When the ECB confirmed in September that the tour would be cancelled, former Test batsman Raja claimed he felt “humiliated.”
England will return to Pakistan in 2022 for a Test series after a 16-year absence.
The ECB cancelled the tour in October due to “growing worries about travelling to the region,” just days after New Zealand cancelled a tour to Pakistan due to security issues.
However, Christian Turner, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, stated that the ECB made the decision based on player welfare.
The England men’s team’s first trip to Pakistan since 2005 was only supposed to last four days, with two Twenty20 matches scheduled for Rawalpindi on October 13 and 14.
Two women’s T20 matches were planned on the same days as doubleheaders, followed by three women’s one-day internationals in the same city.
Last year, Pakistan visited England for a three-match Test series and a T20 series at a period when Covid-19 infection rates were among the highest in the globe, saving the ECB millions in television rights deals.
As a result, when England postponed the October fixtures, Pakistani fans were furious.
In September, Raja told reporters, “It’s the feeling of being used and then discarded.”
“One feels slighted, embarrassed,” he continued, “since withdrawal has no answer.”
Harrison’s journey to Pakistan is expected to be brief, as he is scheduled to attend an International Cricket Council chief executives meeting in the United Arab Emirates later this week.
His trip was confirmed on the same day that Cricket Australia unveiled preparations for a tour of Pakistan beginning in March 2022, which would be the country’s first visit in 24 years.
